8 Ways to Reuse Takeaway Coffee Cups

I am extremely lucky to have a lovely little cafe in walking distance to my home. My morning routine always involves stopping in there for my large, double shot, soy cappuccino on the way home from dropping Elliott at daycare and heading back home to work.

It wasn’t until last Thursday that my cleaner (yes, I succumbed to getting a cleaner so I could get back some of my sanity) and she asked me if I kept my takeaway coffee cups because she had been throwing them away when she cleaned my office. Of course, it was fine for her to throw them away, but it was at that moment I realised how many takeaway coffee cups I’d probably gone through in the past year and that they were just thrown away. I started to feel somewhat guilty. Really, I should be taking a travel mug for my coffee. It also made me look into how to reuse coffee cups and being mindful of the environment (which I clearly haven’t been).

How to reuse paper cups

Paper cup garden

Paper cups are perfect for seedling starters. Even better, make them look all pretty and paint them. A perfect activity for the kids.

Make a trophy for Father’s Day

I remember seeing something similar to this on Mister Maker. You get two paper cups, stick the bottom together, paint it and decorate it to make it look like a trophy and present it to Dad as ‘The World’s Best Dad.’

Cupcake holders

You know how you buy those thin cardboard cupcake holders to bake cupcakes in? Well you can do the same with coffee cups. All you have to do is wash the coffee cup out and let it dry and perhaps cut it down a little to the size that you need – cupcake size or muffin size.

Paper cup fairy lights

I recently bought Elliott some paper lantern fairy lights for his bedroom as ambient lighting while he sleeps. You could do similar when reusing paper cups. All you’d need to do is wash and dry them, cut them in the middle, paint them or cover them with some lovely fabric, poke a hole in the bottom and stick some LED battery operated lights in them and string them up wherever you like.

Cute (or crazy) animals

Lastly, one of the best ways to reduce the impact of coffee cups (and save you LOTS of money) is to make your coffee at home and take it to work in a travel mug or Keep Cup. Need a decent coffee machine? Check out this helpful guide to buying the best coffee machine.

Eva is the Editor and Owner of The Multitasking Woman. She always has her fingers in many different pies but wouldn't have it any other way. Eva is self-employed as a content writer, copywriter and social media manager and is a Mum to her seven-year-old son, two-year-old daughter, five chickens, Benny the dog and wife to Mr G. They all live happily, mid-renovation, in their little worker's cottage in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia.

18 Comments

Who knew you could do so much with your morning cuppa? Some really great ideas here. I’ll drink to that! Have a good week. (p.s. I’m trying to give up coffee but might get back onboard for another week so I can try some of these crafty ideas.)

I love the trophy idea, I think I am definitely going to get the girls to do that for Father’s Day this year. Now I’ll just have to forget to take my reusable cup to tafe a few times so I can get some cups again. The Uni cafe has reusable ones for $6.95 and then you get refills for $2. So no only do you save on the paper cups and waster, but you also save on the price of a coffee (it’s over 50% cheaper). So many good ideas here, I am definitely going to have to pin!

oh how clever! Like this recycling post. I used to be the ‘keeper’ of all things for re-use (k-2 teacher, now retired and grandma now not minding the kids ) but I have no need any more (sadly) Thanks for having me here…I might not be a mummy but I am a grandma blogger! Denyse

Hi! I'm Eva, a busy mum of two young children and a freelance copywriter and social media manager. Since being diagnosed with Bipolar and Anxiety Disorder in 2017, I've been on a quest to live a lifestyle that supports my mental health. It is this quest that lead me to changing the focus of TMW to a blog about self-care and wellbeing for busy women. Through TMW I aim to encourage busy women to fill their cup first amongst the juggling of family, work and relationships, in order to achieve their goals and dreams. TMW is all about you and I hope you enjoy it.